A Constant State of Grace
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand what it means to be in a constant state of grace.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message
A Constant State of Grace
"But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved." Acts, Chapter 15, Verse 11
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we discuss being in a constant of grace. In the last broadcast we outlined the benchmarks of soul growth, showed how souls are grouped according to their growth status, how gradually all souls move toward their final goal. In fact no soul is left behind. This morning we shall show why no soul is ever left behind. We shall show the role that grace plays in this stupendous unfolding of the soul’’s potential and the stimulus that transmutes this potential of the soul into actuality. We shall also show the function of faith as it interacts with grace. To help us grasp the spiritual concept of grace, we shall use a material analogy.
A child has recently become a young adult. And though the young adult is sufficiently mature to live apart from his parents, and can now make unassisted decisions, he still lacks experience and wisdom in the ways of adult living. He also is not financially independent and still depends upon his parents for economic support. The young adult has been given a tentative budget to live on, but because the young adult is not providing his own economic support he lacks the appreciation for what is involved in being economically independent. And though not consciously straying outside the boundaries of the budget allotted to him, he often strays outside the boundaries that have been set as reasonably for him, though there are exceptions that come up that require additionally funding. The young adult remains childlike when it comes to finances, and this financial maturity and responsibility cannot occur until he assumes all of the responsibility for his own welfare.
In the meantime, he spends what he needs, and never is aware that the shortfall is being made up without his knowledge. In fact he never gives it a second thought. If he took the time to reflect upon the amount of money he is spending and the amount of money that is budgeted for him, he would quickly realize the additional help he is receiving, but rarely do young adults who are economically dependent reflect in this way. They take it for granted that their needs will be met. And because of the parent’’s great love for the young adult, and their desire to see him succeed and not have to worry about economic necessities, and having the additional resources, the child never becomes aware of the additional help he is constantly receiving. When he matures and become truly independent of his parents, he will appreciate all of this, and understand the great love that his parents have for him.
And now we return to our discussion. The educational program for the soul is flawless. As Jesus said, ““the Father gave them to me, and no one can pluck them out of my hands.”” Now since our Father is all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-loving, all-merciful, all-forgiving and is absolutely perfect, his plan for the education of our souls cannot fail. He even has remedial provisions for those of us who are tardy and need additional instruction. He has said that in his Father’’s house, there are many mansions. If the soul is true of purpose and of heart, ultimately it cannot fail. It is impossible for it to fail, because God cannot fail.
We know that the Father agrees to reveal divine values and meanings and that we must believe these values and embrace the meanings derived from them. And we know that comprehension of divine values and meanings equals growth, and it is this growth in values and meanings that propel us to ultimately achieve divine perfection. While our faith allows for these divine values and meanings to become available for our use, they slumber in the souls waiting to be activated. They are really there, but it requires the use of faith to activate them. Faith is absolutely important in making the supreme effort because without faith the supreme effort will not be made. Halfhearted efforts will be unavailing. Halfhearted efforts indicate that faith is contaminated by a mixture of doubt, material contamination, and suboptimal desire. Faith must be purified. " . . .Let the term ‘‘faith’’ stand for the individual's relation to God." Faith is only concerned with divine values and meanings. Faith has the support of the entire personality not just some part of it, but all of it. And when the entire personality moves to embrace these potential values, they become a part of the soul’’s experience, and the soul moves forward.
But sometimes the soul gets bogged down by material moorings and must be pried loose. Sometimes the inertia of material concerns in the soul prevents it from being truly liberated. And here is where grace comes in. Grace supplies the additional power needed to get the soul moving. It does this on the one hand by the ruthless destructions of material values from the soul and on the other hand by the unceasing replacement of these material values with values of truth. Just as in the material analogy, grace supplies that extra help when the soul falls short in its supreme efforts. Sometimes the material self is shockingly amazed at the destruction of material values that borders on despair, but the faith-anchored soul remains anchored and remains in a constant state of grace. "After such spiritual attainment, whether secured by gradual growth or specific crisis, there occurs a new orientation of personality as well as the development of a new standard of values. Such spirit-born individuals are so remotivated in life that they can calmly stand by while their fondest ambitions perish and their keenest hopes crash; they positively know that such catastrophes are but the redirecting cataclysms which wreck one's temporal creations preliminary to the rearing of the more noble and enduring realities of a new and more sublime level of universe attainment" of divine values and meanings.
Finally the soul, equipped with faith and the supreme desire to do the Father’’s will, accompanied by a constant state of grace, moves gracefully over every barrier that stands in the way of completing the growth circles, including those that stand in the way of achieving spiritual perfection as the Father has so lovingly and mercifully commanded, for the answer to all of the brothers and sisters difficulties of time and space lie in their incomplete status, and there is only one way of becoming complete: by whole-heartedly dedicating oneself to doing the Father’’s will, with the subsequent effects of growth. "Grow baby, grow!" Remain in a constant state of grace.
This concludes today's message on understanding what it means to be in a constant state of grace. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Thy Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages
By Dr. James Perry
A Constant State of Grace
